On April 19, Hilton Tashkent City hosted a scientific conference dedicated to modern trends in tobacco harm reduction. The event was intended to unite the efforts of experts to exchange the experience of the world’s leading countries and the latest scientific findings.

The concept of tobacco harm reduction is based on providing nicotine to people who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking through less harmful products.

“People don’t want to quit smoking because they don’t see it as a disease. They perceive it as a bad habit, that’s why their lifestyle should be changed. <… >I believe that consumer goods must be regulated: for example, by setting age limits, because nicotine in its pure is low-risk,” – explained one of the speakers of the conference – Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos.

Tim Andrews, Director of consumer issues at Americans for Tax Reform and the Tholos Foundation, explained that smoking have decreased in countries that supported and recognized the role of tobacco harm reduction (Sweden, Britain, Australia, New Zealand). These countries have given their citizens a choice that may save their lives.

“Many countries do not provide an opportunity to save people from smoking, and banning alternatives may eventually lead to an increase in the number of smugglers in these countries who would import dangerous, unlicensed nicotine goods or people would just keep smoking cigarettes,” – Tim Andrews concluded.

Clarice During, Head of Considerate Pouchers, an organization for consumers of nicotine packs, used the example of Australia to show how people circumvent the bans of alternative nicotine products:

“In Australia, e-cigarettes can be bought only with a doctor’s prescription. But despite bans and negative attitudes towards vaping by the government, consumer demand is still high with more than a million Australians buying e-cigarettes on the dark market”.
According to the speakers, the health and life expectancy of today’s smokers can be radically improved if alternative nicotine products are not banned. The study of the degree of harm from nicotine products has been going on for several years, and it is becoming extremely important for health professionals to get specific and reliable results, the outcome of which was this conference.